March 11,1871.] THE PHARMACEUTICAL JOURNAL AND TRANSACTIONS. 
727 
eystina. To prepare tliem, all that is necessary is to 
boil them for a short time in soda to dissolve away 
the cement, which more easily dissolves than the 
shells themselves; and then it is found that the whole 
mass that remains is a mass of extremely beautiful 
-siliceous shells. Upstairs there are placed in the 
microscope two examples of these, one an ordinary 
group, which I obtained by the process I have just 
described, and the other is a selected specimen. 
You must not suppose that the beautiful circles you 
see there occur in nature ; they are picked out b t y the 
delicate fingers of cliildren, and arranged in rows, so 
as to constitute, so to speak, a show object.—After 
briefly describing the various specimens arranged in 
the library under the microscopes, Dr. Carpenter 
concluded his lecture by expressing a hope that he 
liad succeeded in inoculating some of liis hearers at 
any rate with a taste for what he was confident would 
prove both an interesting and valuable pursuit, minis¬ 
tering, at the same time, to recreation and mental im¬ 
provement. 
IV A (. ACHILLEA MO S CHAT A). 
BY DR. A. V. PLANTA-REICIIEXAU. 
The plant is known in Switzerland as forest lady’s 
herb ( Wildfriiitlein-Kraut ), and has been used there for 
centuries as a stomachic, tonic, etc. 
The author collected the herb before flowering without 
the root. It was, in the form of a coarse powder, dis¬ 
tilled with steam until volatile oil ceased to come over, 
and the aqueous decoction evaporated to the consistency 
of an extract. The herb thus exhausted with water was 
dried and extracted with alcohol until it ceased to impart 
to it a bitter taste ; most of the alcohol was distilled off'. 
Iva Oil. —The crude volatile oil is bluish-green, of a 
peculiar, not disagreeable odour, and a taste reminding 
of peppermint. It commences to boil at 170° C.; the 
greatest portion distils between 180° and 210° C.; the 
distillate between 230° and 260° C. is brown and has the 
■odour of wormwood. A dark brown soft resin is left 
behind, which is not bitter; insoluble in absolute alcohol, 
but readily soluble in ether and oil of turpentine. The 
rectified oil was of a faint yellowish colour, an agreeable 
refreshing odour, and a warm bitter taste, reminding of 
peppermint. Its composition is C 4s H 40 O 4 ; the author 
names this ivaol. 
Ivdin .— The dark green alcoholic liquid was precipi¬ 
tated by alcobolic solution of acetate of lead; the filtrate 
was treated with sulphuretted hydrogen and the filtrate 
evaporated; the residue was washed with acetic acid 
until the washings were colourless, afterwards with 
water, until it floated upon it. It was then repeatedly 
dissolved in alcohol and evaporated, to remove acetic 
acid, then treated with animal charcoal and the alcohol 
evaporated. I vain = C 43 H 42 0 6 has the consistency of 
Venice turpentine, is of a yellow colour, insoluble in 
water, and in alcoholic solution has a persistently bitter 
taste. 
Achillcina. —The aqueous extract was triturated with 
•alcohol until it ceased to become coloured; the alcohol 
was distilled off and the residue precipitated by water. 
The precipitate having been washed with water, the 
aqueous liquid was agitated with plumbic hydrate to re¬ 
move acids. The filtrate was freed from lead, evaporated 
and alternately dissolved in absolute alcohol and in water, 
and evaporated until the achilleina yielded clear solu¬ 
tions with both liquids. Thus prepared, it has an alka¬ 
line reaction, is brown red, amorphous, friable, very hy¬ 
groscopic, readily soluble in water, with more difficulty 
in absolute alcohol, insoluble in ether; its odour is pe¬ 
culiar, its taste very bitter but not disagreeable. The 
author isolated also the bitter principle from Achillea 
Millefolium , which had been obtained by Zanoa in a not 
.entirely pure state, and found it to be identical with achil¬ 
leina. Composition = C 40 H 3s N 2 O 30 . The salts have not 
been investigated. 
Moschatina .—The precipitate obtained by water, in 
the concentrated alcoholic residue, was taken up by ab¬ 
solute alcohol, evaporated to dryness and treated with 
water until the mass became pulverizable under water. 
It is of an aromatic bitter taste, little hygroscopic, barely 
soluble in water, fuses under water upon the water-bath, 
and separates from its solution in hot water in a pulveru¬ 
lent condition. Composition ==C 42 H 27 N0 14 . 
_ Achillelin .—On boiling achillcina for several days with 
diluted acids, sugar is formed, together with a volatile 
aromatic principle and probably ammonia, and a dark- 
brown powder separates which is not bitter; insoluble in 
water, sparingly in alcohol, and in this solution has an 
aromatic taste. Composition = C 22 H 1 -N0 8 . 
The author also obtained stearic acid on cooling the 
tincture of iva, concentrated by distillation. 
The aqueous solution of the ashes contained very little 
sulphate of lime and magnesia, but considerable alkalies 
and chlorine. Nitric acid dissolves from the residue car¬ 
bonates, much lime, also phosphoric acid and little mag¬ 
nesia. The undissolved portion consisted of charcoal 
and much silica .—Annalen cler Chcmie unel Pharmacic, 
August , 1870. 
BEECH-NUT OIL. 
In an article on the products obtained from the com¬ 
mon beech (Tagus sylvatica ), Dr. Wetherbec alludes to 
the oil obtained from the nuts, and gives the following 
particulars in regard to it:—At 60 degrees Fahrenheit, 
it has a specific gravity of 0-9225, and at 29 degrees it 
becomes solid. One thousand parts of alcohol of 90 per 
cent, will dissolve four parts of the oil, but it is com¬ 
pletely insoluble in water. Its composition is carbon, 
79*77; hydrogen, 10-57, and oxygen, 9-12, wfith a trace 
of extracline matter, etc., in each one hundred parts. 
Like other expressed oils, it produces acrolein, or the 
hydrated oxide of acryl, by destructive distillation at a 
high temperature. By treatment with nitric acid, it also, 
like other nut oils, yields elaidin or elaidic acid, in com¬ 
bination oxide of glyceryle, and in about 103 minutes, 
by this process, in converted into a bluish-green solid. 
The soap made from this oil is of a dirty grey colour, 
becoming yellow by exposure to the air, and having a 
slightly characteristic odour of the oil. It is somewhat 
greasy and pasty, and for these reasons is less valuable 
to the soap-maker than many other kinds of vegetable 
oils, though in France it is extensively used for this pur- 
pose. Three pounds of the oil will make five and a 
quarter pounds of soap, as taken from the frame, which 
in two or three months, by drying, will lose a consider¬ 
able portion of its weight. 
Beech-nut oil, however, is most valuable for culinary 
and lighting purposes, for the former of which it is con¬ 
sidered very wholesome and palatable, and to a great 
extent takes the place of butter and lard among the 
French and German inhabitants of certain districts.. It 
burns well, giving a good light, is free from smoke. 
When properly refined it is good for lubricating deli¬ 
cate machinery, such as clocks, etc., and for the prepa¬ 
ration of hair-oils, pomatums, liniments, ointments, and 
for many other purposes it is not inferior to most of the 
vegetable fatty oils .—Canadian Pharmaceutical Journal. 
Incompatibility of Digitalis with Sulphate cf 
Quinine. —A physician having ordered a mixture con¬ 
taining the syrup of digitalis of the French Codex and 
acid sulphate of quinine, observed a precipitate at the 
bottom of the bottle. Supposing that some mistake had 
been made, he took it back to the apothecary, when it 
was found that the ingredients were incompatible with 
one another, the tannin in the digitalis combining with 
the quinine and forming an insoluble tannatc .—Journal 
ds Pnarmacie ct de Chimie. 
